Why There’s No Such Thing as Junk Miles

The first time the term was lobbed my way was on a trail in Central Pennsylvania. I was out with a few friends on a casual Sunday ride, scoping out some trails, enjoying the day. We were going comfortably hard with no real agenda, but didn’t feel like beating ourselves up when we came upon another rider—a fellow racer we all knew. At first he was happy to see us and asked to tag along. “Sure!” we said. And he shot off like we’d been toeing the line and the starting gun had just blasted.

We didn’t exactly follow suit. Moments later at an intersection he asked us what was wrong. We’re just out for a ride, we explained. Not training. And that’s when he dismissed us. “Ah. That’s just junk miles,” he said with a headshake. He rolled away, disappearing over the ridge.

Junk miles? I was dumbfounded. I’d heard the term, of course. Junk miles are miles that don’t have a purpose—just miles for the sake of miles. Maybe miles you feel like you should be doing, but that aren’t part of a training plan. But no way in God’s green earth had it ever dawned on me that a fun purposeless mountain bike ride on a beautiful Sunday afternoon could ever be considered “junk.”

Still doesn’t. Never will. I don’t care what I’m training for (and it’s important to note that junk miles only exist in the world of training and/or racing, not recreational riding). As someone who does train and actually really truly loves to train, I get it. Structure is extremely useful when you want to achieve a goal, especially one like standing on a podium or a personal best in a race or event. Too many people ride just sort of hard too often, never pushing hard enough or backing down easy enough to make meaningful gains. Accomplishing that takes disciplined training, which means assigning rides a purpose.

Fun, however, is a legitimate purpose. Stress relief is a legitimate purpose. The fact that you can finally ride outside after being trapped inside by a wall of snow and ice for six weeks, structure be damned, is a legitimate purpose. The only non-legitimate purpose I can think of is if you’re out there joylessly slogging through some self imposed workout because you feel like you need more miles when those miles are not a) making you happy b) making you faster or c) building your reserves, but rather a) making you miserable, b) making you slower and c) breaking you down.

But you know what? I wouldn’t even call those “junk.” Because, well, you might see a moose or a heron in flight or maybe notice a patch of wildflowers you never noticed before. Maybe you’ll get an idea for a new project at work or for a place you’d like to go on vacation. Heck, even, worst case scenario, you end up tweaking a knee from overuse/under-recovery, you still may learn something about giving yourself some rest…or find a great new massage therapist.

So let’s come up with some new nomenclature for these unstructured miles and toss the term “junk” in the trash where it belongs. Here are a few that more correctly categorize those rides:

Treasure miles: When you’re heading out in pursuit of something important to you. May include, but not limited to: a clear head, stress relief, vitamin D, and social time.

Ego miles: You don’t like to ride fewer than 100 miles a week. So you’re going to ride so you hit 100 miles a week, because it makes you feel better about yourself.

Strava miles: All those blank spaces on your training log are bumming you out and you don’t want your followers to think you’re a slacker. (See also: Ego miles)

I will not drive to the ride miles: The trailhead is 6 miles away. Yes it adds 12 miles to your day, but you’re not putting your bike on the car and that’s final.

Social miles: All your friends are going. No, you wouldn’t jump off the roof if they did. But you will get on your bike because, friends.

Sunshine miles: There is a glowing warm orb in the sky you haven’t seen for a long time. Yes, it’s a rest day. Whatever. Sunshine.

Counterproductive miles: You’re tired. You’re sore. You need a rest. You shouldn’t ride your bike. You’re afraid of what will happen if you don’t ride your bike. Level with yourself and call this ride what it is: counterproductive. Just don’t call it junk. Because maybe it won’t make you faster on race day, but if you’re honest with yourself and you still want to ride, there must be a perfectly good reason. And that’s reason enough.

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